Direct entry to stacks on course
MEANTIME IT'S been nothing like smooth waters in Cape Town harbour, as they also try to lead up to open gates.
The first of these, although now solved, was whether Cape Town would even go open gates. Although April 1 had been the legally decided day for the start of open gates, this only applied to Durban, where the court case was held.
Then, when the concept was accepted, there was disagreement about when open gates would be. April 1, said the users. September or whenever the new Cosmos computer system comes on-stream, was what Portnet first said.
But then, in an overnight change of mind, all the bickering parties agreed on June 1 as a compromise.
Arguments were heard at the Port Liaison Forum (PLF) level, as harbour users objected to certain of Portnet's other plans, particularly that for a transfer fee. The logic behind this was that there's a cost involved in shifting containers from the stacks to the vehicle loading area.
But Albert Schuitmaker, deputy director of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and founder of the PLF, asked FTW: How did they come across a figure of R199 a container?
This was seen as an unfair cost disadvantage to private hauliers who suspected that the charge for Portnet cartage would be purely a round-the-pages bookkeeping exercise, and might not actually be passed on to the container receiver.
But, said Schuitmaker, the latest is that the Port of Cape Town has agreed to waive the transfer fee for both parties.
And the desirable objective - direct entry to the stacks, previously rejected by Portnet - is now also on the books, according to Schuitmaker.
Portnet has put into place meaures to give access to the stacks, he told FTW, with the previous ban on vehicle access very much a historical fact, due mainly to lack of space in the stack area.
But now, with lots more stacking space having been brought on-stream, this argument no longer holds water.
By Alan Peat
